You will need PS Plus to play online on the PS4, Sony explains why

One of the things that came from E3 is that if you want to play online on the next gen PlayStation, you’re going to have to pay for it.

One of the attractions of the PS3 was that you could play online for free but Sony feels that the service needs to bring in money to stay competitive. It’s no secret that Xbox Live always outpaced the PSN for quality last gen and one of the reasons is that paid subscriptions enabled Microsoft to constantly upgrade it and keep it ahead of the game.

With the PSN become more substantial, Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, had this to say in regards paying to play multiplayer, “We’re focusing on new services and online, like the “Share” button I previously mentioned and the ability to play using mobile devices with the cloud feature. Our plan is to continue to invest in the future, but investing like this is not compatible with our previous policy that involved reducing costs by every mean to keep the service free.” – Source: Game Watch via dualshockers.com

In an interview over at Gamasutra.com, Scott Rohde, Software Product Development Head for Sony Worldwide Studios America said “we’re not going to allow online pass” for any games on the PS4. He continued “The way we are approaching this is that we want this to be extremely consumer-friendly, extremely retailer-friendly, and extremely publisher-friendly”. This attitude is what is setting them apart from Microsoft at the moment with their DRM policies and attitude toward gamers.

If you choose not to pay for PS Plus you will still get to use some features, like Netflix and on-demand TV apps, and play free-to-play games. PS Plus still we be offering free games on the PS4 and at launch you will have a nice shiny digital copy of Drive Club waiting for you along with a few indie games.

What do you think to pay to play multiplayer on PSN? Let us know on our Twitter or comments section